However, I realized a little later on that I was misinterpreting KFF's analysis; they were referring to how much they estimated silver plans would go up due to the lost CSR funds, not all metal levels. Furthermore, for Medicaid expansion states (which includes Rhode Island) they estimated the average was only 15%.. Based on these factors, the impact across the board on Rhode Island should have only been around 10.3%.

Rhode Island had approved rates based on the assumption that the federal payments would continue. In the days since last week’s announcement that the payments would end, the insurance commission is working through an elaborate procedure to replace the original rates with higher ones that the commissioner told the state’s two insurers in its ACA marketplaces to prepare over the summer, just in case.

“It’s not as easy as pressing a button,” said Cory King, the Rhode Island insurance commissioner’s principal policy associate. For Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the insurers with more customers, the change will cause the premium increase for “silver” tier plans - the level eligible for cost sharing reductions - from about 12 percent to about 30 percent.